America\u2019s \u201cunchecked\u201d gambling boom risks exacerbating a nationwide mental health crisis, according to a congresswoman pushing for federal government support. The industry is pushing back hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Operators must be held \u201caccountable\u201d for rising addiction rates, Andrea Salinas told the Guardian, after lawmakers proposed legislation that \u2013 if approved \u2013 would provide tens of millions of dollars in funding to help those affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sports betting is \u201cproliferating like never before\u201d, she said. \u201cRather than try to put the genie back in the bottle, let\u2019s make sure we have the research and the treatment before it does become out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The supreme court struck down a decades-old law in 2018 that had banned sports betting across much of the nation. The market is now legal in 38 states, attracting billions of dollars in wagers every month. Its rapid growth has coincided with a spike in addiction cases, according to clinicians, counsellors and campaigners<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diverting taxes already raised on sports wagers towards compulsive gambling support services would make \u201cthe entire industry healthier\u201d, said Salinas, a Democrat representing Oregon\u2019s sixth district. \u201cI, as much as anybody, enjoy the recreation of gambling, in a fun casino. When done, like everything, in moderation, it\u2019s fun, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut the access to these applications for sports betting has taken us in a direction that is harmful. Nearly 7 million Americans are struggling with the gambling addiction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Grit (Gambling addiction Recovery, Investment and Treatment) Act, proposed this month by Salinas and the Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal, is pinned around the federal sports excise tax. Receipts from the tax, which dates back to the early 1950s, have surged in recent years as the legal market expanded; it raised an estimated $271m last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the proposed law, half of the revenues raised by the tax would be set aside for gambling addiction treatment, prevention and research. Taxes would not rise and the funds for treatment would go through an existing federal grant program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Researchers have identified close links between gambling addiction and other mental health disorders, like alcoholism. \u201cIf we let this go unchecked, this could be one of the sources\u201d of an escalating mental health crisis, said Salinas. \u201cWe would be ignoring an upstream problem that we could start to address.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, which has been pushing for the Grit Act, has said it would \u201csignificantly bolster\u201d addiction prevention, research and treatment resources.skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/www.google.com\/recaptcha\/api2\/anchor?ar=1&k=6LdzlmsdAAAAALFH63cBVagSFPuuHXQ9OfpIDdMc&co=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGhlZ3VhcmRpYW4uY29tOjQ0Mw..&hl=zh-CN&type=image&v=QUpyTKFkX5CIV6EF8TFSWEif&theme=light&size=invisible&badge=bottomright&cb=7sj2z7klcy31Privacy Notice:\u00a0<\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our\u00a0Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google\u00a0Privacy Policy<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But gambling operators are against the proposal. \u201cOur industry\u2019s growth means that there\u2019s never been more attention paid to, or money invested in, problem gambling support than there is today,\u201d Chris Cylke, senior vice-president at the American Gaming Association, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suggesting the Grit Act would \u201cgive criminals a leg up\u201d, Cylke argued that the excise tax \u2013 upon which it is based \u2013 should be repealed. \u201cToday, this antiquated policy puts the nascent legal market at a competitive disadvantage against offshore illegal operators, who do not pay any taxes and prey on vulnerable customers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advocates for greater compulsive gambling support criticised the \u201cpredictable, shortsighted objection\u201d of operators. \u201cThe gambling sector can no longer reasonably expect to evade external responsibility,\u201d said Derek Webb, founder of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling. \u201cThe Grit Act is our best chance to save lots of lives by doing what\u2019s responsible, fair and inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Salinas is braced for a long campaign to pass the Grit Act. Politicians in Washington and beyond \u201caren\u2019t really paying attention\u201d to gambling addiction rates, she said. Congress is \u201cnot doing a lot of substantive work right now. So, yeah, it could take a while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n